Girl Scout cookies go on sale this weekend

Girl Scout Cookies, the much anticipated treat that helps fund
activities for hundreds of local girls, will go on sale this
weekend.
“Our truck with all of our’s is arriving on the 11th and the
first day we will have booths is Saturday the 12th,” said Rhoda
Hauth, our service unit director for the local area.
Cookie sales are being organized differently this year.
Pre-ordering has been eliminated and girls will have cookies in
hand starting on the first day of sales. The Scouts are also
adopting new technologies to make it easier to find cookie
booths.
Residents with smartphones can use the new Girl Scout Cookie
Locater to search for local sales, share locations with friends and
add sales dates to their calendar. The app also provides nutrition
information on each cookie, can send email alerts when a sales
booth opens nearby and provides a cookie personality quiz. An
online version of the cookie locator is available at www.ilovecookies.org
Girl scout leaders said the annual cookie sales are certainly
fun, but they also provide a critical source of funding for troops
and help local girls develop a host of valuable, practical
skills.
“Every cookie has a mission: to help girls do great things,”
said Marina Park, CEO of Girl Scouts NorCal in a written statement.
“Girls learn skills that prepare them for future successes, and the
girls decide what to do with their proceeds, which are an important
and affordable way for girls to attend camp, participate in
programs, fund service projects in their community, buy uniforms,
and pay membership fees.”
Local troop leader Juliana Leroy said the sales process has
surprising benefits for girls. “Girl Scouts learn more than you’d
think with cookie sales. Besides sales skills there’s goal-setting
and record-keeping, customer service and lots and lots of hands-on
real money math,” she said. “Over the years I’ve been proud to
watch our girls become more confident in all these areas.”
Hauth said the confidence building that happens as a result of
working cookie booths is an important part of the experience. She
said girls that tend to be more shy have an opportunity to work
with the more outgoing girls in a team environment that benefits
everyone.
She said girls also learn the basics of marketing, advertising
and customer service. “They also learn good customer relations,”
she said. “They need to be polite, take rejection well and still
say ‘have a good day,’” she said.
Local leaders said cookie sales also facilitate long-term
planning as the money raised from sales is often put toward
substantial trips or projects. Hauth said her daughters spent
several years saving for trips and younger troops often use the
funds to facilitate educational trips such as a sleepover at the
San Francisco Zoo.
Leroy said her troop has been working toward a trip for five
years. “Our Girl Scout troop uses part of our earnings to pay for
events the girls want to go to, like Elves’ Workshop (a Christmas
crafting event) and Thinking Day (an event dedicated to learning
about Girl Scouts in countries around the world), and part to do
service projects like the annual toy drive,” she said. “We also
have budgeted to save for a long-term goal — a troop trip, which is
planned for this summer.”
Hauth said money is also put towards subsidizing activities for
low-income families. He said the cost of attending a camp,
purchasing supplies and buying patches can be too high for some
families and cookie money allows those girls to have a fulfilling
experience.
Customers who want to support girls, but don’t want to actually
eat the cookies can participate in the Gift of Caring program,
where in addition to buying their own cookies, they can purchase
Girl Scout cookies to be donated to local food banks, the Red
Cross, or military troops.